


come back safe please.

by dualcolours



Series: rock city bitch [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: garnet amethyst connie and steven are all mentioned but really?, it's vesper having a little hell of anxiety about pearl., vesper uses he/she pronouns.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 02:24:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20900096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dualcolours/pseuds/dualcolours
Summary: a few days ago, vesper saw connie and steven on a pre-mission snack run. with days passing and nothing from either of them or pearl, vesper's starting to get worried, and no matter how much he tries to convince himself it's just because there's no signal, she can't help but feel something is wrong.





	come back safe please.

“you two trying to one-up the vending machine?” vesper asked, watching as steven and connie placed armfuls of snacks and a box of juice packets onto the counter. vesper began scanning the items in and steven leaned on the counter and watched, the scanner beeps followed by his own.

“beep.”

“beep.”

“beep.”

“actually, that’s a boop. always finish on a boop, little buddy,” vesper corrected as he finished scanning and began bagging the items, handing them to the two kids. “what are you guys doing anyway? this is more than your pearl practice runs. plus, she normally comes to restock the prize pouch.”

“this is a mission snack run!” steven replied, puffing his chest out proudly, and vesper raised an eyebrow as the receipt printed. she began folding it into a star, handing it to steven when she had finished.

“a mission snack run?” vesper tugged at the corner of his mask, “isn’t that a little dangerous? you guys going to be safe?” he leaned on the counter, “are any of the gems going, or just you guys?”

steven handed connie the star to admire, holding up four fingers, “a patrol mission, pearl says it’s been empty for forever, we’ll be perfectly safe, and pearl’s coming!” steven lowered a finger with each reply, and gave the cashier a thumbs up, “don’t worry! we already told my dad and connie’s parents that we’d be safe!” 

vesper relaxed at the answers, especially at the mention of pearl. “yeah, you’ll be fine. you guys have fun, and tell pearl to be safe too okay? i don’t have some magic lion or fancy warp to come save your butts,” he called after them as they began to leave with their items. once on lion, the two waved goodbye again and then lion roared and they vanished into a pink portal, and vesper settled back to worry for the rest of his shift.

>sent tuesday, ten am<  


<<hope you’re having fun on your mission, steve-o.>>  


<<send me some sick pictures.>>

>sent wednesday, twelve-sixteen am<

<<yo, little buddy, it’s nearly been a day. normally you send me a million pictures by now, hope it’s just ‘cause you don’t have service.>>

>sent thursday, seven pm<

<<yo, pearl, you and the dynamic duo okay? i usually get messages and pictures by now.>>

>sent saturday, six-thirty am<

<<it’s been a few days, hope you and the terrific two are okay. i haven’t even seen garnet or amethyst around. hope you’re even getting these.>>

vesper scrolled through the message history as he made his way down the boardwalk towards the bus stop, thankful that it was fairly empty at this hour and she wouldn’t have to worry about walking into anyone. instead, he was busy worrying about steven’s mission- he hadn’t heard back from anyone since steven had left, and vesper was starting to really think something had gone wrong.

the bus pulled up and vesper boarded, paying the fare and settling onto the practically empty bus for the short ride to where he lived, just out of the city. he could see the temple in the distance as well as the car wash- that was where steven’s dad was, right? surely he knew something, vesper mused to himself, deciding to go over tomorrow. he sent one last message to both steven and pearl and leaned against the window for the remainder of the ride.

>sent saturday, ten-fourty-five pm<

<<hope my messages haven’t been a pain. i’m sure you’ll be back soon.>>

vesper opened the door to the small apartment she had, dropping his workbag by the door. he wandered over to the kitchen and stared into the fridge for a few moments before closing it again, not really interested in anything it had. going back into the small living room, he lay back on the couch and flicked through the messages again. hopefully, he thought to himself, it was all over nothing. maybe their phones broke, or they probably didn’t have service.

still, as vesper turned over on the couch to try and sleep it off, she couldn’t help but think something was wrong.

the stars were huge, filling the night sky, planets filling the gaps between them and the occasional comet flicking across. vesper sat on the beach, waves brushing up against her feet and the sand beneath her dry despite how close the water was. the strangeness of that fact didn’t bother vesper at all, too fascinated by the brilliant sky above to worry about what was going on around him. it was a shame he was alone, vesper hummed, he could imagine someone else enjoying the scene with him.

“vesper!”

vesper turned to see steven running across the beach towards him, arms waving, and felt a bit confused. “not exactly who i was picturing, but i can run with this,” vesper shrugged as steven skidded to a stop by him, the sand kicking up at his stop. “isn’t it gorgeous, little buddy? never seen a sky like this before.”

“that’s because it’s a dream! you’re dreaming, and boy i’m glad you are because that means i can talk to you!” steven replied, dropping to the sand beside vesper, “listen, you gotta tell garnet and amethyst that the warp pad messed up! we got sent to some cliff ruins and then before we could go back this big gem monster broke the pad and chased us, and now we’re stuck!”

“wh-” vesper tried to speak up, but steven just continued onwards, “pearl says there’s another warp pad but we can’t get to it, but the others can come to us! you gotta tell them, vesper!”

vesper tried processing all the sudden information. dream? dream steven that seemed to be real steven? maybe it was his brain making his worries into his dream. “sure buddy, i’ll tell them. so is this-” vesper cut off as dream-(real?)-steven poofed into pink clouds and a sudden roaring sound came from behind. vesper turned to see the stars had all blinked out and a giant comet was hurtling towards him, filling the sky.

vesper woke with a start, sitting up straight on the couch, phone clattering to the floor. the room was completely dark, no light filtering in from the windows, meaning it was still definitely night. she reached down for her phone and when she pulled up the time, two-fifteen flashed in his face. vesper groaned and lay back on the couch, thinking about the dream.

dream-steven had seemed so real and upset- maybe he had some strange gem-dream powers. if he did, surely the gems would know, and vesper had promised dream-steven that he’d tell the gems his message. pulling himself off the couch, she pulled a sweatshirt on and stumbled around in the dark to find his shoes. grabbing one of his face masks from off the wall, he went out the door and on his way back to beach city.

thankfully, a very late bus still ran, and by the time he had made it to the beach house and the gems temple, it was only two-fourty. careful to not miss a step, vesper hurried up the stairs and knocked on the door, shivering slightly in the cool ocean air. he could feel sleep begging him to return, but at this point he was too worried to go back to sleep.

“yo, vp, it’s a little early for you, and pearl’s not even here. whaddya want,” amethyst answered the door, looking annoyed. vesper filed away the fact that she immediately guessed he was here for pearl for a more awake self, and shook his head.

“no, i had a dream and steven was there? he told me something about the warp pad breaking and him and connie and pearl getting stuck and-”

he cut off as amethyst dragged him inside, yelling for garnet to come. he freed himself and stood awkwardly by the door and waited for the other gem to appear. the door in the back slid open and garnet appeared and vesper started again.

“...and then steven said that though the pad they went through was broken, pearl said there’s another that you can go through,” vesper finished.

“amethyst, let’s go. i know where pearl means but we should go now,” garnet adjusted her visor and moved onto the warp pad, amethyst following after. vesper stepped forward, wanting to ask to go with, but the words refused to form.

“can i stay until you get back?” she asked instead, feeling a bit embarrassed. now that she knew the dream was real and that steven and connie and pearl were really in trouble, there was no way vesper could go back to sleep without knowing if they were okay. no information had worried him, but no information meant maybe it was just no signal. now he knew what was going on, and it was a definite trouble situation.

“you’d stay regardless. we’ll be back soon,” garnet replied, amethyst snickered, and then the two vanished in a burst of light and left vesper alone in the living room. he stood for a few moments before moving over to the counter and pulling out his phone, texting his bosses at the arcade and market store.

<<can’t come in today. was sick.>>

rubbing his eyes, vesper pulled up the time on the phone again, a solid three am blinking back at him. he tucked his phone back into his sweatshirt pocket and leaned against the counter. he didn’t want to leave without knowing if they were okay, but just standing here for who knows how long made him feel antsy. he moved forward to sit on the couch, wincing at a crunching noise and pulled out a bag of chips amethyst seemed to have left. in fact, despite steven having been gone, the place looked a mess. probably because pearl wasn’t picking up after amethyst every five minutes, vesper mused to himself.

at the thought of the tidy gem, vesper felt something in his chest twist and she frowned. hopefully pearl was fine. surely she wouldn’t want to clean up after such a stressful mission, and vesper stood up to start picking things up. grabbing a trash bag, he moved around the living room and kitchen, throwing away empty bags and packages. dishes into the sink and pillows tossed onto the couch to neatly arrange in a few minutes, she tied the bag up and moved back to the couch.

carefully placing the pillows on the couch, vesper stilled with the last one in his hands. he had never seen the gems poofed, and he didn’t exactly want to. steven had told him about the times he had seen the gems poofed, and vesper realized he was holding the pillow steven had cushioned pearls’ gem. carefully, he placed it on the coffee table and stepped away.

“just in case,” vesper said aloud as he began to wash the dishes, sorted into piles. broken were set aside for amethyst’s bin, and intact dishes were set on the rack to dry. carefully gathering up the broken (and bitten) dishes, vesper made his way towards the temple part of the house and placed the dishes into the purple box by the gems door. he paused by the warp, hoping that any second now it would flash and they’d all return. instead, the house remained dark, and vesper sighed.

he settled on the couch, in the middle where the two sections met like an l-shape. she pulled out her phone again, loudly groaning when it flashed four-ten back at him. garnet had said they’d be back soon, but how soon was soon? by morning? mid-afternoon? at least by evening. he had already done the small things he regularly helped out pearl with, anything more felt like imposing, so instead he just sat and waited.

her mind wandered- were steven connie and pearl okay? he had seen and heard about some of the battles the gems had fought, and the thought of them stuck and unable to escape made him ansty and worried. he pulled his mask down and rubbed his face, groaning.

he had seen them go on missions before, he had watched steven and connie practice with pearl before- had even somewhat participated. so why did this make him worry so much? they could handle it, and with garnet and amethyst on their way, it was fine.

“it’s fine. it’ll be fine, they’ll be fine,” vesper said aloud, hoping hearing his own voice would help. instead it just echoed through the room, and she felt small and alone. yanking the mask back up and over her mouth, vesper pulled his legs up onto the couch and pulled his sweatshirt over them, curling into a ball, and settled in to wait.

without anything to do, vesper could feel how tired he was. an opening shift at the arcade plus a closing shift at the market meant that she had slept only a few hours before steven and the dream happened. his head dipped, and he could feel his eyes keep drifting shut no matter how many times he shook his head to try and wake up. finally, he let his chin rest against his chest and his eyes drift closed. it’d be fine as long as he listened, and besides, the warp pad flash was bright enough that it’d alert him. all he had to do was listen.

“...garnet dude, he’s so out. three for three in the human department,” amethyst’s voice floated in through the haze, and vesper shifted and groaned. 

“quieter, amethyst. i’ll put these two up in stevens’ bed, you message…” garnet’s low voice faded out as vesper felt himself drifting back to sleep, not yet willing to give up on sleep. it was nice of the gems to let him borrow their couch, even though pearl was sure to lecture him later for the way she fell asleep.

pearl.

vesper suddenly jerked awake, remembering why he was even on the gems couch to begin with. still tucked up in his sweatshirt, she nearly fell off the couch, but a gentle hand caught him by the arm. vesper looked over to see pearl beside him on the couch, laying on her stomach with her head resting on her arm. once the pale gem was sure the human wasn’t in danger of falling off, she pulled her arm back and tucked it under her chin again.

“good morning, vesper,” she said and gave him a tired smile. she looked a little bruised and beat up and tired, but she wasn’t poofed or cracked, and vesper let out a sigh of relief.

“so. dream powers, huh?” vesper pulled his attention away, looking up at the second floor instead. he could see the top of garnet’s head, and guessed amethyst was up there as well. “pretty lucky we were both asleep, huh.”

“vesper,” pearl said his name again, and brought his attention back down to the couch, “it’s okay.” vesper met her gaze for a moment before moving it away again, settling it on the lone pillow on the coffee table instead. after a moment, pearl turned her head and looked over as well.

“i uh. i wasn’t sure if you’d been…” vesper trailed off, freeing his arms from the sweatshirt and held his hands out, fists clenched and then spread wide, “..you know. i’ve never seen it, but i was worried.”

pearl was quiet for a moment before she realized what he meant, and then made a soft, “oh, vesper..” and uncrossed her arms to pat him on the side with her hand. “i’m alright, a little battered and bruised, but no real damage.” she reassured, and vesper nodded but didn’t uncurl.

“here, lay down instead of balling up like that, you’re going to be stiff and sore already from sleeping like that,” pearl said gently, reaching under the couch to pull out another blanket and pass it over. vesper slowly uncurled, and winced, but lay down along the other side of the couch, their heads by each other.

“i know you guys can reform if you do poof, but my dumb human brain still goes ‘that’s it! she’s gone.’ and it’d really.. suck. like, i’d really miss you, you know?” vesper mumbled. he heard amethyst snort and mutter a ‘nice’ before he realized what he had said, and flushed. “like i’d miss you all, you and steven and connie, obviously.” vesper added in a rush.

pearls’ face was dusted in a light blue, and she cleared her throat, “yes, of course. but there’s nothing to worry about now. garnet and amethyst are watching connie and steven, and i’m safe here on the couch with you. we plan on sticking around for a while, vesper.” pearl’s voice was soft, and they lay in silence for a few moments, broken by a yawn from vesper.

“you should get some more sleep, a full rest is important to a humans health after all,” pearl said, and vesper felt his eyes start to droop again. she could do with more sleep, and pearl was safe and relatively fine. he started to drift off again, and he felt pearls’ hand brush some hair away from his face, and her voice before sleep claimed him again.

“i’d miss you too, silly human. sweet dreams, vesper.”

**Author's Note:**

> are vesper and pearl those fools who both go "no, they don't like me that way!"? vote now in the comments.
> 
> https://spacecadetcity.tumblr.com/post/188140161134/read-the-accompanying-fic-here


End file.
